George Zimmerman grabs fire extinguisher, pulls family from overturned SUV

That’s the question Shawn Vincent, a spokesman for George Zimmerman, posed to The Daily Caller after news broke Monday that Zimmerman helped rescue a family of four from an overturned car.

“That’s the kind of guy George is,” Vincent said during a phone interview with TheDC.

The spokesman explained that when the defense team met with their client last Friday, the recently-acquitted Zimmerman didn’t mention the rescue, which occurred just days after he was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

The car, a blue Ford Explorer SUV, overturned near an intersection outside of Sanford, Fla. last Wednesday, the Orlando Sentinel reported Monday.

Vincent says that Zimmerman thought that there might be a fire in the vehicle and he grabbed a fire extinguisher that he had inside his own truck.

Seminole County Sheriff spokesperson Heather Smith confirmed that account to TheDC, explaining that officers on the scene reported that Zimmerman was carrying a fire extinguisher.

Smith also told the Sentinel that Zimmerman was not a witness to the crash but that he drove up on the scene and, along with another person, helped the family escape.

The occupants of the vehicle were reportedly uninjured, Smith told the Sentinel.

A more detailed report of the incident will be released later today or tomorrow, the sheriff’s office told TheDC.

Vincent emphasized to TheDC that one aspect of the timeline of events leading up to Zimmerman’s encounter with and shooting of Trayvon Martin in February 2012 was that Zimmerman exited his vehicle while looking for Martin. Florida state prosecutors tried to use that fact to show that Zimmerman hunted down the 17-year-old Martin.

A non-emergency phone call between Zimmerman and a Sanford police dispatcher from that night shows that the dispatcher asked Zimmerman where Martin was heading. Zimmerman and his defense team have maintained that the dispatcher’s question was part of the reason Zimmerman left the vehicle.

When asked by the dispatcher whether he was following Martin, Zimmerman was heard saying that he was. “We don’t need you to do that,” said the dispatcher. Zimmerman responded “OK.”

Minutes later, a physical encounter ensued, and Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest. A jury of six women found Zimmerman not guilty of murdering Martin.